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Prisoner release brings joy and grief in Middle East

Hayden Cooper
Wed 1 Jan 2014, 8:19 PM AEDT

The release of Palestinian prisoners linked to violence has brought open celebration to the streets of Ramallah. But it's also compounding grief for the Israeli families of victims. Hayden Cooper talks to Ola Shakhaf - the mother of a man shot dead in 1987, and Yassin Abu Khdair - the now freed man who killed her son.

Transcript

TRACY BOWDEN, PRESENTER: Just before dawn on the last day of the year, Israel released another 26 Palestinian prisoners.

The move is part of the ongoing peace talks sponsored by the United States.

Most of those released are convicted murderers and they've returned to their families in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Tonight we gain an insider's view of both sides: the Israeli mother of a murdered son and the Palestinian man who pulled the trigger.

Middle East correspondent Hayden Cooper.

HAYDEN COOPER, REPORTER: It's late 1987 and the first shots are being fired in the first months of the First Intifada. In Jerusalem's Old City on the Via Dolorosa, a young Jewish man is watched, followed and murdered; shot in the head, unprovoked, by a Palestinian youth.

Now, almost 30 years later, Yigal Shakhaf is mourned every day by his mother in her small apartment in the hills outside Jerusalem.

OLA SHAKHAF (voiceover translation): An Arab man was sent to find and kill a Jew in the Old City. He went after the tallest man, my son. He shot him and he died the next day.

HAYDEN COOPER: Her grief is compounded by this: Palestinians celebrating the release of 26 prisoners from Israeli jails, including the killer of Yigal Shakhaf.

MAHMOOD ABBAS, PRESIDENT, PALESTINE (voiceover translation): This day is a happy day for all of us, for our people, for our families and for our hero prisoners who were freed today to live free.

HAYDEN COOPER: In Ramallah, flags fly to celebrate the occasion. The 26 men, mostly convicted killers, are viewed as heroes, freedom fighters, and all of this Ola Shakhaf endures.

If you saw this man, now that he's been released, what would you say to him?

OLA SHAKHAF (voiceover translation): If I see the man who killed my son, I have nothing to say to him.

HAYDEN COOPER: This the man who pulled the trigger. Yassin Abu-Khdair has served the best part of three decades in prison. Now at his home in the West Bank, he's greeted warmly by friends and family.

YASSIN ABU-KHDAIR: (voiceover translation): I feel happy to be out of jail, to meet friends, relatives, brothers and sister. Now I'm starting a new life.

HAYDEN COOPER: Do you regret doing what you did?

YASSIN ABU-KHDAIR (voiceover translation): Does the occupation regret what it's doing? What I have done, I have paid for with half my life, for my nation, for my people.

HAYDEN COOPER: Despite the bravado, years in prison have softened this convicted killer.

YASSIN ABU-KHDAIR (voiceover translation): We are a nation, we love peace, but we had the occupation. We have no problem with the Jews. Our problem with the occupation and the settlements.

HAYDEN COOPER: And in 26 years, the occupation has changed. There've been more settlers, more deaths and much more talking, but still no solution.

Whether they like it or not, the Palestinian prisoners are now part of the peace process, but they're only a small part. That's because here in the West Bank there's deep distrust about the continued construction of Israeli settlements like this one east of Ramallah. Every time more prisoners are set free, the Israeli Government approves more dwellings. The Palestinians interpret it like this: "We'll give you back your prisoners, but we'll take more of your land."

Some Israelis suspect their leader is trying to have a bet each way, to compensate for the settlements by releasing prisoners and vice versa.

OLA SHAKHAF (voiceover translation): I'm very upset because I don't see any agreement. The Prime Minister has made a mistake. To give up murderers in exchange for a few more settlements here and there? It's not worth it.

HAYDEN COOPER: Yassin Abu Khdair and the 25 other prisoners released this week will be watched very closely by the Israeli authorities. That's why they choose their words very carefully.

YASSIN ABU-KHDAIR (voiceover translation): I believe the negotiation is the best (inaudible) to get our rights from the Israeli occupation. ... I hope that the (inaudible) stop from the both sides, the Israeli and the Palestinian. And to remember the victims of this war and to stop shedding blood.

HAYDEN COOPER: So, you wouldn't do what you did again?

YASSIN ABU-KHDAIR (voiceover translation): No, I wouldn't. I will not do.

HAYDEN COOPER: The victims are not convinced. They believe their murdered sons and daughters are being ignored.

OLA SHAKHAF (voiceover translation): I didn't have enough time with him. I didn't get enough photos of him. I lost him and I feel very sad.

HAYDEN COOPER: In the crowded streets of Jerusalem's Old City where Christian pilgrims follow the Stations of the Cross, there stands a forgotten plaque, passed by thousands of tourists and locals every day, most oblivious to what it commemorates: the short life and violent death of Yigal Shakhaf.